Breed what you love

[4hfarms]

I have cross longhorns as well. One to a Holstein, one to a Hereford and one to a limousine to breed a little beef on them. Interested to see how thing turn out in a few years. I'm still a newbie with the cow thing, only been a couple years now. Only plan on eating and selling to family/neighbors interested in grass fed beef. Nice to look at my soon to be edible lawn ornaments. (How I spend most evenings.)

 

[Little Joe]

I have cross longhorns as well. One to a Holstein, one to a Hereford and one to a limousine to breed a little beef on them. Interested to see how thing turn out in a few years. I'm still a newbie with the cow thing, only been a couple years now. Only plan on eating and selling to family/neighbors interested in grass fed beef. Nice to look at my soon to be edible lawn ornaments. (How I spend most evenings.)

Which bull made the beefier calves crossed with the longhorns and which one knocked spots off the best?

 

[4hfarms]

So far the rwf was huge this summer. But goes up and down like she is in weight watchers with a full fridge. (Half hereford) almost 2yo

The half Holstein held her size even through this season.... proportionally anyway. Still growing..... Was 1yo in June.

The limousine calf was killed by our ex donkey a few days after birth.....

The 3 month old bull calf is a pure registered longhorn.born June 30th. Let you know how that turns out next year.

Oh yeah, the spots.... The only one with solid color was our registered longhorn

 

[CG1]

I am easily suckered into a Jersey calf. But, I love Angus. Because they tend to not die on me and they sell well.

 

[Jafruech]

Use the right cows and the right bull and you will be fine. Genetics matter more to me than breed.

All my cows have 25-50% LH in them. I breed them back to a black angus bull for calves that are 75-87.5% Angus and the rest LH. I then run a Hereford bull on the 75% plus Angus heifers. That's the last gen I'll keep. I want to maintain some LH in there. They grow like crazy on the terrible forage here. They don't get sick. They don't have calving issues. They all breed back. They are dang good mamas. They are intelligent and have excellent dispositions. The 15 y/o 50% cow is the first to breed back, first to calve and weans a calf 60% plus of her weight. They are easy fleshing and maintain body condition. I've had some cows from friends of mine. I sold them and bought more of a these.

I use bulls that have excellent thickness and marbling. I've never got docked at the sale barn. I do pretty well if I go. However I have consistent and repeat private treaty sales. There is a local operation that direct markets grass fed beef and pays me .15 cents over top of market for my whole calf crop. I save a few back for my other buyers. All of them have had excellent marbling when finished and graded really well.

How you market and sell determines a lot. Attached are some pictures of a few of my calves from this year and last year. 4-6mo old when pics were taken. They don't get grain or cake. They do get a few alfalfa cubes to bunk train them. Maybe 10 cubes each ever.

 

[Jafruech]

..

 

[Little Joe]

Use the right cows and the right bull and you will be fine. Genetics matter more to me than breed.

All my cows have 25-50% LH in them. I breed them back to a black angus bull for calves that are 75-87.5% Angus and the rest LH. I then run a Hereford bull on the 75% plus Angus heifers. That's the last gen I'll keep. I want to maintain some LH in there. They grow like crazy on the terrible forage here. They don't get sick. They don't have calving issues. They all breed back. They are dang good mamas. They are intelligent and have excellent dispositions. The 15 y/o 50% cow is the first to breed back, first to calve and weans a calf 60% plus of her weight. They are easy fleshing and maintain body condition. I've had some cows from friends of mine. I sold them and bought more of a these.

I use bulls that have excellent thickness and marbling. I've never got docked at the sale barn. I do pretty well if I go. However I have consistent and repeat private treaty sales. There is a local operation that direct markets grass fed beef and pays me .15 cents over top of market for my whole calf crop. I save a few back for my other buyers. All of them have had excellent marbling when finished and graded really well.

How you market and sell determines a lot. Attached are some pictures of a few of my calves from this year and last year. 4-6mo old when pics were taken. They don't get grain or cake. They do get a few alfalfa cubes to bunk train them. Maybe 10 cubes each ever.

Pics didn't attach.

 

[Warren Allison]

My longhorns were bred to a black baldy when I got them except one, some calves were spotted, some came out looking like black baldies motley faced. The one that wasn't bred got bred to my ultra black, her calf came out spotted. They are all bred back to the ultra black for spring calves. I was thinking of getting some Brahman heifers and saving f1 heifers out of them, then swapping to a charolais bull to knock spots off of longhorn calves as well as giving a little bigger boned calf. Not sure yet what I'll do. I've got a friend who has 2 Brahman bulls and is crossing them with beef cows and longhorns.

Is your Ultra Black 1/2 Angus and 1/2 Brangus?

 

[Little Joe]

Is your Ultra Black 1/2 Angus and 1/2 Brangus?

Yes. Has hardly any ear and a clean sheath.

 

[Warren Allison]

Yes. Has hardly any ear and a clean sheath.

That would make him 3/16th Brahman, 13/16th Angus. Breeding him to the Brahman heifers would make the calves be 19/32nds Brahman, nearly 5/8ths. THOSE heifers would make good replacements too. You could breed them back to one of those European bulls that now come in black: Simmental, Limosine, Gelbeiv,etc. Or, a homozygous Black Hereford, and get some true black Braford-type cattle. Hell, I figure in a few years, they gonna come up with black Charolais! What were you talking about breeding to a Charolais bull, your LH X Ultra Blacks?

 

[Little Joe]

That would make him 3/16th Brahman, 13/16th Angus. Breeding him to the Brahman heifers would make the calves be 19/32nds Brahman, nearly 5/8ths. THOSE heifers would make good replacements too. You could breed them back to one of those European bulls that now come in black: Simmental, Limosine, Gelbeiv,etc. Or, a homozygous Black Hereford, and get some true black Braford-type cattle. Hell, I figure in a few years, they gonna come up with black Charolais! What were you talking about breeding to a Charolais bull, your LH X Ultra Blacks?

I want to breed a charolais to my longhorns, I'm not keeping any heifers out of the longhorns I don't think. I can buy 2 longhorn cows for what I can raise one longhorn x heifer. I just have the longhorns because they were cheap and I can make a buck on them, will probably buy some more to put on my new place to help clean it up as well as some brahman heifers, now I want to save heifers out of the brahmans so I'll either breed the brahman heifers to the ultra black or AI them to herefords to retain heifers. I don't really think I want charolais x brahman cows as they will be fairly large and I want moderate framed cattle long term.

 

[kenny thomas]

That would make him 3/16th Brahman, 13/16th Angus. Breeding him to the Brahman heifers would make the calves be 19/32nds Brahman, nearly 5/8ths. THOSE heifers would make good replacements too. You could breed them back to one of those European bulls that now come in black: Simmental, Limosine, Gelbeiv,etc. Or, a homozygous Black Hereford, and get some true black Braford-type cattle. Hell, I figure in a few years, they gonna come up with black Charolais! What were you talking about breeding to a Charolais bull, your LH X Ultra Blacks?

There has been Black Charolais for several years. I don't care for them but they are out there.

 

[Warren Allison]

There has been Black Charolais for several years. I don't care for them but they are out there.

You are kidding me?!!!! Well, I haven't seen or heard of them, but it doesn't surprise me. Are they bashed as badly as Black Herefords are in some circles?

 

[MurraysMutts]

 

[kenny thomas]

You are kidding me?!!!! Well, I haven't seen or heard of them, but it doesn't surprise me. Are they bashed as badly as Black Herefords are in some circles?

Only place I see many adds for them is in the north and Canada. I actually have not seen anything but pictures but don't like the pictures

 

[Muddy]

You are kidding me?!!!! Well, I haven't seen or heard of them, but it doesn't surprise me. Are they bashed as badly as Black Herefords are in some circles?

Black Charolais are not bashed very badly as black Hereford but still their breeding is questionable considering the true Charolais are homozygous for dilutor gene and the black Charolais are free of dilutor gene...

 

[RockinRB]

I have cross longhorns as well. One to a Holstein, one to a Hereford and one to a limousine to breed a little beef on them. Interested to see how thing turn out in a few years. I'm still a newbie with the cow thing, only been a couple years now. Only plan on eating and selling to family/neighbors interested in grass fed beef. Nice to look at my soon to be edible lawn ornaments. (How I spend most evenings.)

I would be interested in seeing pictures of your holstein x longhorn. That is an interesting cross!

 

[Ky hills]

You are kidding me?!!!! Well, I haven't seen or heard of them, but it doesn't surprise me. Are they bashed as badly as Black Herefords are in some circles?

The American Hereford Association has a closed herd book, only animals from registered parents can be registered, so the infusion of other breeds to make them black isn't accepted. Still though other traits pop up in the breed that just kind of show up somehow, but not black hide. The Charolais association has had a breeding up program as has most other Continental breeds which most except the Charolais breed used to develop their respective black hided animals. To my knowledge the American Charolais Association still does not recognize "black" Charolais.

 

[Warren Allison]

The American Hereford Association has a closed herd book, only animals from registered parents can be registered, so the infusion of other breeds to make them black isn't accepted. Still though other traits pop up in the breed that just kind of show up somehow, but not black hide. The Charolais association has had a breeding up program as has most other Continental breeds which most except the Charolais breed used to develop their respective black hided animals. To my knowledge the American Charolais Association still does not recognize "black" Charolais.

Black Hereford has its own registry.

 

[Ky hills]

Black Hereford has its own registry.

Correct, as it is not recognized by the American Hereford Association.